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Another six months, another ATI card in the bin. Back to Nvidia?

My first card from ATI/AMD, a 5850 (1gb) had a faulty power transformer and caused me to replace an entire PC nearly because I thought there couldn't possibly be anything wrong with the newest component.

This one has started giving me graphical artefacts while playing DXHR and since then has spread to all other games. Although its not running super hot research suggests it is apparently an over heating problem.

The rest of my pc is dust free and running fine.

So I guess the question is, do I try ANOTHER ATI/AMD card or head back the realms Nvidia? And what's happening on the Nvidia side of the pond these days?

No Nvidiot comments please, they might run hot and eat electricity for breakfast but they always lasted me far longer than any of these ATI/AMD cards...

If overheating is the problem and you go down the new-card route, were I you I'd think about getting an MSI Twin Frozr card. I just got an MSI GTX 570 TF and it ran about 30 celsius cooler than my old card (a BFG GTX 285) under the same stress-testing software (FurMark).
The Twin Frozr is a slightly overclocked card that has a massive heatsink and an extra fan attached, which I wanted after my PC started having overheating problems - mostly due to poor airflow (cheap case and bad cable management) and dust buildup (case didn't come with fan filters, and my room is generally dusty. I have since bought some filters and will fit them presently).
I haven't had it long enough to comment too much, but initial testing seems positive. Could be worth a look.

Although its not running super hot research suggests it is apparently an over heating problem.

Have you tried upping the fan speed manually and see if that resolves the issue? You should be able to use RivaTuner, MSI Afterburner, Catalyst, or a few others to try it out.

Originally Posted by Patrick Swayze

No Nvidiot comments please, they might run hot and eat electricity for breakfast but they always lasted me far longer than any of these ATI/AMD cards...

I see this Red vs Blue (or Green in this case) mentality all the time with defective hardware (esp hard drives), yet failure rates are more or less the same across the different vendors. Just go with whatever gets you the best bang for the buck. Like westyfield suggested, you might consider springing for a model with a better heatsink; they tend to be more quiet and effective than stock cooling and usually don't cost a whole lot more.

is this an XFX card, by any chance? anyway, I have had 5 ATi cards over the years, and only one died, which was as a result of me putting some massive overclocks through it 24/7.

A standard design ATi card is great in terms of longevity. XFX on the other hand, I will never touch with an Electro-static neutral barge pole. They deviate so far away from the stock design and use such cheap materials it is ridiculous.

Ive been very happy with my ATIs so far. The last Nvidia I bought was a GeForce 2 GTX. Ive had an X800XT, an X1600 and my current one, a HD4850, which has currently lived for more than two years. Two and a half, in fact. I used to buy the most expensive ones possible, now I go for cheap now, cheap later. :D

"Quantacat's name is still recognised even if he watches on with detached eyes like Peter Molyneux over a cube in 3D space, staring at it with tears in his eyes, softly whispering... Someday they'll get it." - The Conclave

In all seriousness, what some people in the thread said is correct - build quality can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. I've had two XFX cards and they've been great. The sapphire I had however was pants.

I highly recommend XFX as well, particularly the model numbers that come with a life time warranty, often for the same price as their 'normal' counter parts. I've been using a ATI 6870 at 1920x1080 and there hasn't been a game yet I couldn't run on max everything, including DEHR and StarCraft 2. It was a great deal in the low 200 dollar range about 6 months ago.

Ah, the statistics of small numbers. I've seen people go through the same thing with hard drives, getting a few drives from a bad batch then abandoning that manufacturer, not realizing that everybody ships roughly the same % of lemons. Unless there's a publicized defect, odds are very good that it's just bad luck. Or a faulty PSU...

I wouldn't touch the slightly-cheaper brands like PowerColor, though. I've always had good luck with ASUS, m'self.

I have used an ATI setup before and though it was nothing impressive, it stuck out for me even when used for heavy gaming which lasted for hours in a day. This might sound so boring and like a broken record but you really have to find a way to ventilate it properly. I mean, arrange the cards stacked up in your board so that they are at least a port apart from each other.

Though if you have gone old with using ATI, then you probably have to take the jump back to nvidia.